Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Ekinops agreed to acquire an OTN switching platform developed by Padtec, an optical communications system manufacturer based in Brazil, for €10 million in cash. The deal brings an experienced R&D team comprised of 25 engineers based in Campinas, near Sao Paulo (Brazil). Brazilian operations will be overseen by Jean-Luc Pamart, co-founder of Ekinops and VP of R&D for optical transport.

With this acquisition, Ekinops expects to be able to offer a complete OTN/DWDM solution for optical networks from early 2020, enabling flexible data traffic and support for the evolution of data speeds and protocols transmitted over 200-400G modulated optical wavelengths, eventually reaching 1 Tbps.

Ekinops plans to carry out a capital increase by private placement over the coming weeks, for an amount capped at 10% of the capital stock.

Padtec CEO Manuel Andrade said:

"The acquisition of the OTN-Switch Platform by a globally recognized company such as Ekinops is a validation of the capability of Padtec's engineers to develop state-of-the-art technologies deployable worldwide. Additionally, we are happy to enter into commercial agreements with Ekinops that will enable Padtec to offer the OTN-Switch on an OEM basis to our customer base in Latin America. This is a clear win-win agreement for both companies."

Didier Brédy, Chairman & CEO of Ekinops, made the following comments:

"The OTN technology developed by Padtec is particularly innovative and will enable Ekinops to take a major technological and commercial leap forward in order to advance its position with leading telecom operators. The agreements with Padtec, the leading Latin American manufacturer and supplier of optical networking equipment, will also allow Padtec to source the OTN products it needs from Ekinops. This major strategic acquisition means that Ekinops can target to triple its sales of optical transport products within 5 years."

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Sumicity, a Brazilian provider of telecommunications services, is deploying Padtec’s new 100 Gbps dual transponders to expand the transmission capacity of its DWDM networks in the southeast of Brazil.

With the expansion, Sumicity's DWDM backbone will reach approximately 3,500 kilometers across the region. Sumicity has already activated more than 2,000 kilometers of the optical network in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

"One of the technical innovations of this generation of transponders lies in the more flexible network interfaces that allow better adaptation of the optical channels to the demands of performance and expansion of the network," says Argemiro Sousa, Padtec’s Business Director.

"There were more than 200 kilometers of illuminated optical networks to connect the interior to the capital of Rio de Janeiro, with transmission rates of 100 Gbps”, says Fábio Abreu, CEO of Sumicity. “One of the reasons we are investing in the expansion of our backbone is so that we can take Sumicity Play, our IPTV HD (fiber optic TV), to all the cities included in our expansion project, as well as the 27 cities where Sumicity Play is already present. Today, we can prove that this network infrastructure contributes not only to significantly improve the connectivity offered to the population, but also to reach several publics with the purpose of boosting the economic and technological development of the region," adds Abreu.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Padtec, a global supplier of optical communications systems based in Brazil, agreed to sell its submarine optical systems division to IPG Photonics for R$75 million (approximately US$20 million). IPG Photonics is a US-based supplier of high power lasers and amplifiers.

In addition to the optical repeater, Padtec's submarine systems division acquired by IPG also includes the structure for submerged plant deployment, operation and maintenance services.

Padtec said the sale advances its strategy to focus on the high-capacity optical transport market for terrestrial networks. The resources resulting from the sale will be directed, primarily, to research and
development and to the expansion of the company in the global market. Padtec’s advisors were IGC Partners and BRGC Advogados.

"We are very happy to know that a globally recognized company, such as IPG, validates, with this transaction, the value generated by Padtec. We are also happy to know that IPG will continue the development efforts of Padtec", stated Manuel Andrade, Padtec’s CEO.

"In recent years, we have seen Padtec's customer base grow exponentially in Brazil and Latin America and this has boosted the company's business. Moving forward, the focus of the company will be to direct these additional resources to continue to offer advanced and robust products and services, making Padtec increasingly competitive", says Argemiro Sousa, Padtec’s EVP Sales.

"This acquisition will allow IPG to advance the market for submarine networking systems," said Ekaterina Golovchenko, IPG Photonics' Vice President of Telecommunication Systems. "Combining Padtec’s leading-edge submarine network technologies with IPG's high-power optical amplifier, Raman pumping, and WDM systems technologies will enable us to effectively compete for a growing number of undersea cable network deployments around the world."